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The Dodgers surprised seemingly everybody by getting a legitimate prospect and recent draftee in left-handed pitcher Justin Chambers (and a player to be named later) in a trade with the Brewers that sends designated left-handed reliever Bryan Hudson to Milwaukee.
Dodgers announced the deal. Milwaukee will send LHP Justin Chambers and a PTBNL in return.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) January 3, 2024
Chambers was the Brewers’ 20th rounder last summer. https://t.co/ORvY9xJSa4
For the Brewers, they surely just wanted to make sure they’d be able to acquire the 26-year-old Hudson before some other team swooped in. They likely see him as teeming with potential from the left side and most likely to make an impact in the bigs, touting gaudy strikeout rates in the minors.
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Meanwhile, the Dodgers got a 2023 pick from the 20th round in the 18-year-old LHP Chambers. On paper that doesn’t sound like much, but he actually signed an overslot deal (around 4th-rounder money) that bought him away from a commitment to Arizona State University.
Think there’s more potential than I alluded to at the time too. Frankly, I didn’t think he was going to sign, so I didn’t do as much digging on him right after the draft. Especially since he was hurt. Now that he’s healthy/signed, I think it’s a really nice lotto ticket for LA
— Spencer Michaelis (@smichaelis234) January 3, 2024
Not much out there on Chambers, but from what I can find: had been low 90s, up to 94 last winter before surgery. PBR had him as the top prep lefty in AZ last year, while PG had him as the 461st among all prep players.
— Future Dodgers (@FutureDodgers) January 3, 2024
Due to the mentioned Tommy John surgery, he has not made his professional debut yet. Thus, this is of course a bit of a lottery ticket type of thing, but a pretty promising one it seems.
There’s a lot to like about this deal, simply because I wasn’t sure they’d get anything but a PTBNL from it, yet they essentially ended up with a 4th-rounder in last year’s draft as well. And that’s in exchange for a pitcher who was signed as a minor-league free agent last year, albeit a promising one, who had to be removed from the 40-man roster to make room for the signing of Yoshinobu Yamamoto to front the rotation. Seems like good work at the margins for the Dodgers no matter how things end up panning out.
